DELTA BOYS ROUT VALLE IN CLASS 1A SECTIONAL 73-51

POPLAR BLUFF -- Beating Holcomb by 17 points is one thing.

But beating Ste. Genevieve Valle by 22 is another.

It's no wonder, then, that Delta High's boys basketball team was feeling mighty good about itself Wednesday night after routing Valle 73-51 in a Class 1A sectional game.

The Bobcats, competing in state play for the first time since 1976, improved their record to 22-7.

Next up for Delta is a Saturday night quarterfinal meeting in Cabool against Fordland. If the Bobcats win that game, they will advance to the Class 1A Final Four for the first time in school history.

"We've got one more big one to get," said Delta coach Nate Crowden.

Crowden, who played on Delta's last district championship team in 1976, had to be elated with the ease in which the Bobcats disposed of the Warriors.

Delta had struggled some, particularly in the first half, during Monday's regional win over Holcomb.

In facing a Valle team that was 25-5 and had won the Mineral Area Activities Association title, Crowden was expecting a real battle.

But, after falling behind 11-2 early, the Bobcats righted themselves and dominated the rest of the contest.

"I'm really pleased," said Crowden. "They're a good team and they're well coached. We really expected a close game."

But Crowden did add that he felt that his team's defense was good enough to perhaps account for a fairly large margin of victory.

"I told the kids that if we play decent like we're capable, then it might not be that close a game," Crowden said. "After they got off to the good start, I thought our defense really took control.

"I'm so proud of the kids for the way they played defense. It's been the key for us all year and it was great tonight."

Garrett DeBrock, Delta's standout 6-foot-2 senior forward who is averaging 21 points per game, led the Bobcats with 29 points.

"This feels really good," said DeBrock. "We knew we had to come out and play hard because Valle is an excellent team.

"It wasn't just one or two guys tonight. We got a lot of great play out of everybody."

Shawn Kinder, Delta's standout 5-10 senior guard who averages 19 points per contest, added 16 while Andy Blattel had 12 and Ryan Livingston contributed nine points and overall strong play off the bench.

Valle got 23 points from its 6-3 senior star Bryan Meyer.

As usual, the Bobcats were boosted by a large group of noisy fans. And those fans seemed even louder than normal after the game was moved from 2,000-seat Peters Gymnasium to Poplar Bluff's cozy 5th- and 6th-grade gym following a fire in the concession area at Peters.

"Our fans have been great all year," DeBrock said.

With Meyer hitting two early 3-pointers, the Warriors raced to an 11-2 lead and their large group of fans smelling the school's first-ever sectional victory in boys basketball.

But the Bobcats were able to right themselves in a hurry. A 15-4 run to close the first quarter -- capped by two DeBrock baskets -- gave Delta a 17-15 lead.

DeBrock's 3-pointer at the beginning of the second quarter capped an overall 18-4 Delta spurt and put the Bobcats on front 20-15.

Delta was able to steadily increase its lead before halftime on a 6-0 run to close the first half put Delta up 39-23 at the break.

The second half was solely a matter of how much the Bobcats would win by as the Warriors never climbed any closer than the 16-point halftime deficit.